Railway-torpedo



(NoModeL) W. 0. BEOKWIT'H. RAILWAY TORPEDO.

No. 409,902. Patented Aug. 27, 1889.

\X I tF'EEEEEI UT- 5am, az/ogwm UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

VALTER O. BEOKVVITH, OF FOSTORIA, OHIO.

RAI LWAY- TORPEDO.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 409,902, dated August 2'7, 1889.

Application filed March 19, 1889.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WALTER C. BEOKWITH, of Fostoria, in the county of Seneca and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Torpedoes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use it, reference being had to the accompanying. drawings, which form part of this specification.

My inventionrelates to an improvement in railway-torpedoes; and it'consists in the combination of the torpedo with a U-shaped wire having upwardly-turned ends for fastening the torpedo to the rail.

It also consists in the combination of the torpedo having a flange formed upon opposite edges with a removable clip, which has its ends to catch over opposite flanges and which serves to loosely attach the wire or strip to the torpedo, as will bem ore fully described hereinafter.

The object of my invention is to attach the wire or strip which holds the torpedo in position upon the rail to the torpedo bya removable clip whereby both the clip and wire can be instantly detached from and applied to the torpedo, and thus enable the wires and clips to be separately packed for transportation at a great saving of expense.

Figure 1 represents a perspective of a torpedo which embodies my invention complete. Fig. 2 is a perspective of the clip and wire alone. Figs. 3 and 4 are perspectives of the clip applied to the ordinary round torpedo. Figs. 5 and 6 are vertical sections of slightly difierent forms.

A represents the torpedo, which is inclined from its center toward each end, so that the Wheels of thecars or locomotives will readily run upon without displacing the torpedo from the rail, and which is provided with the flange 13 along its lower opposite edges, as shown. Applied to the underside of this torpedo is the clip 0, which consists of a sheetmetal plate cut away at D at both of its ends, and having its four corners turned up, so as to form hooks I, which catch over the opposite flanges B on the torpedo, and thus attach the clip and torpedo together. This clip can be $erial No. 303,828. (No model.)

passed over the flange B 011 the torpedo from either end, and thus be instantly attached for service or displaced. This clip serves to attach to the torpedo the bent U-shaped elas tic wire H, which has its ends J turned upward and inward, so as to catch under opposite sides of the top of the rail, and thus hold the torpedo in position for use. The central portion J of the wire extends across the central portion of the clip, which is concaved at this point, so as to allow the wire plenty of room to move, and the end portions of this central portion J extend through the cutaway ends D, as shown. This construction allows the wire to turn through about half a circle, so as to be folded against the bottom of the torpedo.

In attaching the torpedo to the rail one of the turned-up ends J is made to catch under one side of the top of the rail, and then the other end is drawn over the top of the rail until it engages the opposite side, as shown. The elasticity of the wire will hold the torpedo so that it cannot possibly be displaced by the jarring of an approaching train.

If the clips are to be applied to round tor pedoes O, as shown in Figs. 3, 4, 5, andO, which are not provided with flanges over which the ends of the clip can he slipped, as shown in Fig. 1, either the edge of the torpedo will have pendent slotted ears 6 upon opposite sides, and which are passed through slots 1; in the ends of the clip, as shown in Figs. 4 and 6; or else the endsz' of the clips are passed through slots 01, which are made through the sides of the shells of the torpedoes, as shown in Figs. 3 and 5, and then the projecting ends of the clips are simply turned back upon themselves or fastened in any manner that may be desired. To these clips when thus applied to round torpedoes may be applied either ordinary lead strips a, which serve to attach the torpedoes to the track, or the bent wires H, as may be desired.

The object of using clips as here shown is to enable any fastening device-such as a wire or a leaden stripto be applied to the torpedo after it is filled, with perfect safety.

to a torpedo should become broken or detached, the torpedo must be treated as acull,

If the leaden strip which is ordinarily applied.

because it is not safe to attempt to solder the lead to the filled torpedo again by the use of the clips.

As here shown, anew fastening can be applied to any torpedo at any time with perfectsafety. The soldering of the leaden strips is an expensive as well as a slow process. As here shown, the clips may be applied to torpedoes of different shapes.

If desired, the round torpedo may also have a projecting flange formed around its lower edge; or any other suitable construction may be employed as a means of enabling a clip to be attached to a torpedo.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. The combination of a torpedo, a detachable clip, means for attaching it to the torpedo, and a wire for attaching the clip to the raiLsubstantially as shown.

2. The combination of atorpedo with a detachable clip and means for attaching the clip to the torpedo, substantially as described. 3. The combination of the torpedo having flanges with the detachable clip, providedwith turned-up ends for catching over the flanges, and the wire shaped so as to attach the torpedo to the rail, substantially as set forth. V

4. The combination of the torpedo provided with flanges with the detachable clip having turned-up ends and the bent wire attached to the torpedo by the clip and provided with the turned-up ends, substantially as specified. 5. The combination of a torpedo with a detachable clip and a fastening device for attaching the torpedo to a railroad-rail, substantially as shown.

In testimony whereof I affiX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WALTER C. BECKWITII. NVitnesses:

CHAS. A. GRIBBLE, C. E. BECKWITH. 

